Ministry of Education Property Management group manager Kim Shannon said the property had not been sold or entered into the disposal process because "another education user" was considering its use as an alternative location.
The disposal of the property was on hold, she said.
Kura kaupapa principal Amiria Stirling yesterday confirmed the Maori immersion school was "seriously considering" a move to the High Street School premises.
She said the school board of trustees consulted the Maori community in Dunedin last year and found many parents were not sending their pupils to the Fairfield-based school because it was not as accessible as many in the community would like.
"It's too far away for some parents to send their kids there. Access is the main issue because it's not on the way to work."
Miss Stirling said the ministry was doing a feasibility study on the kura kaupapa to see how a move might affect the school financially and how it would affect the pupils, among other factors.
The report was due to be completed within the next two weeks.
At that time, the board of trustees would make the final decision about whether the school would relocate to High Street.
The gates at High Street School have been removed pending the removal of two relocatable classrooms, which will be transported to Christchurch today to be used in the Canterbury earthquake school recovery programme.
The school would then have three classrooms remaining, still plenty of room for the kura's nine pupils, Miss Stirling said.
The High Street School board of trustees applied to the ministry last year to close the 123-year-old school because of severely declining rolls.
The decile 7, year 1-6 contributing school had 106 pupils in 2006, but the roll had declined to just 21 when the school closed for the year in December.
It was officially closed on February 28 this year, but no pupils had returned to the school for term 1.
Only the principal returned and had remained there until the closure late last month.
